What's happened to "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again?” I am sure these are questions I will be asked in the coming months as we move toward implementation of The Third Edition of the Roman Missal.
The “Memorial Acclamation," as we have been used to calling it, is the short musical response to the priest’s announcement that we should proclaim the mystery of faith. We respond with any of the choices of acclamations such as, “Lord, by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. You are the Savior of the world.” The English Sacramentary offers us four choices. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops retained the use of “Christ has died” in the revised English translation of the Missal but it is not a direct translation of any of the Latin acclamations. And so with this most recent edition it has been eliminated. And along with that change we have been instructed to now begin calling it, the “Mystery of Faith."
On September 18 we began learning the new musical setting of Dan Schutte’s “Mass of Christ the Savior." Since then we have learned the “Holy Holy,” the “Lord Have Mercy,” the “Alleluia,” and part of the “Glory to God.” In the coming weeks we’ll learn the new settings for the “Mystery of Faith." Because we are used to responding by rote, these changes will require us to participate actively and consciously.
We will be required to put more effort into our singing. We’re all in this together. In time, we’ll soon be comfortable with the changes. Credo Deus!
